Month: August 2024

The People Behind the English Wine Revolution

I have mixed feelings about this book. While it is undoubtedly an illuminating account of the recent history of the English wine industry – though it’s a pity the Welsh wine industry is largely ignored – and the key personalities involved in the ‘English Wine Revolution’, I didn’t always find it an easy read.

The book covers a range of important topics such as climate, natural wine production, organic viticulture, grape varieties, sparkling wine, soil health and so on in a comprehensive but not overly detailed manner, and it also focusses heavily on the personalities involved in the industry, as suggested by the subtitle. However, some of these latter accounts are often spoilt by the tittle-tattle which make them read like excerpts from a gossip magazine rather than a serious book about English wine. 

But what really put me off the book was the poor editing. Page after page is peppered with typos. In a passage about Tillingham Winery, for example, Lord Devonport is then spelt as Devenport within a few lines, and in a passage about the Languedoc wine region, Domaine Saint Rose is also written as Sainte Rose in the same paragraph.  And if an author wants to use French terms to spice up the text, then it helps to get it right! So, ‘petits soupers’ not ‘petites soupers’, ‘cabernet noir’ not ‘cabaret noir’, and ‘éminence grise’ not ‘éminence gris’. It might be nit-picking but it drove me mad and I had to put the book down several times. I would have thought Allen & Unwin would have had the book edited before releasing it …

The book has attracted positive reviews and awards but for me, on balance, it’s just three stars.

Available from Waterstones and other booksellers (£10.99-£16.99)